read only couchdb: add this to the design documents of the database you want to protect. Now, only users with role admin will be able to edit or add documents to this database.

read-only-couchdb.json

{
  "_id": "_design/auth",
  "language": "javascript",
  "validate_doc_update": "function(newDoc, oldDoc, userCtx) { if (userCtx.roles.indexOf('admin') !== -1) { return; } else { throw ({ forbidden: 'Only admins may edit the database' }); } }"
}

With cURL:

curl -X PUT http://username:password@localhost:5984/database/_design/auth -d "{ \"language\": \"javascript\", \"validate_doc_update\": \"function(newDoc, oldDoc, userCtx) { if (userCtx.roles.indexOf('admin') !== -1) { return; } else { throw ({ forbidden: 'Only admins may edit the database' }); } }\"}"

Replace username, password and database accordingly.

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Change userCtx.roles.indexOf('admin') !== -1 to userCtx.name === 'admin' if you want to check for a specific username.